The Age of Paradox: Book Two- The World of Paradox
by Marcus S. Lazarus
Summary: With Amy's training completed, the Doctor and Amy embark on a new journey through time and space, learning more about the world that the Faction has created as they confront old friends... as well as some unexpected allies...
1. Starship UK

Disclaimer: I don't own what you recognise; the drill should be familiar to you by now

Feedback: I'd appreciate it; I'm trying to do something a bit different here

AN: The second story in my 'Age of Paradox' AU, featuring the Eleventh Doctor and Amy travelling together in a world where Faction Paradox survived the Eighth Doctor's destruction of Gallifrey in 'The Ancestor Cell', with the result that the Doctor spent his last few lives mostly alone until he met Amy (For the record, the War Doctor and the Tenth Doctor's half-regeneration in 'Journey' End' didn't happen here, so the Eleventh Doctor is just the Eleventh Doctor; might not be a big detail, but I thought it best to say that now)

**The Age of Paradox:**

**Book Two:**

**The World of Paradox**

As she stared out of the TARDIS doors at the vast spaceship below them, it wasn't hard for Amy to understand why the Doctor had chosen this as their first destination after she'd changed from her uniform into a new red-and-white checked shirt and jeans, preferring something comfortable over stylish for her first trip; the TARDIS was the most incredible vehicle she had ever seen, but the idea that she was currently looking down at something built by the humans of the future felt more… _personal _to her.

"Incredible…" she said, as she stared out of the TARDIS doors at the vast city-ship below her, buildings covered in the names of various cities she recognised from long experience of studying maps. "And that's really got the whole of England's population on it?"

"The vast majority of them from the twenty-ninth century, yes," the Doctor said, nodding at her. "Solar flares roasted Earth, and the entire human race packed its bags and moved out until the weather improved, after a select group of elite were sent to this old space station for additional security; complicated way of doing things, but they wanted to cover all the bases."

"And we're looking at… Starship England?" Amy asked, looking thoughtfully down at the ship.

"Well, it's officially identified as Starship UK even after Scotland requested its own ship, but that's not the issue right now," the Doctor said, waving a dismissive hand as he grinned while adjusting the console settings with the other. "What's important is that the ship's continuing its migration through the stars, searching for a new home for the human race; is that incredible, or is that incredible?"

"It's incredible," Amy said, nodding in agreement at the Doctor. "So… shall we go down?"

"Already there," the Doctor said, smiling as he stepped away from the console and turned to look at Amy. "Just remember, only observe and enjoy unless you see _clear _evidence that there's something wrong…"

"Understood," Amy said, nodding at him in agreement.

The Doctor might regard it as his duty to get involved and help out where he could, but with the Faction to consider as an issue, he couldn't afford to just dive in wherever and whenever he felt like it. As he had explained to Amy, these days in particular he had to be selective and confirm that whatever was happening was something that the locals couldn't hope to handle on their own and could be dangerous if left alone for too long; the less clues he gave them as to his presence, the better.

Stepping out of the TARDIS, Amy immediately found herself in the middle of a bustling market, the immediate hall resembling an oversized shopping centre with a large glass window and other small stalls in the middle; an area immediately behind where the TARDIS had materialised actually looked more like the corner of a road rather than something you'd find inside a building. There was even a mailbox a short distance away, lights strung up with a colour that suggested Christmas even if the general atmosphere didn't add to that impression, and a wide collection of people in clothing that looked slightly mis-matched to Amy, as though the owners had just donned whatever they could find.

"Right then," the Doctor said, looking thoughtfully at the vast bustle of people around them. "First question, Pond; what's wrong with this picture?"

"Is it… the bicycles?" Amy asked, her gaze fixing on the riders in question as they went by. "Not exactly normal for a spaceship…"

"Normally, yes, but you have to keep in mind that we're dealing with a society that had to abandon several of its original creature comforts after an environmental upheaval beyond precedent…" the Doctor said, his voice trailing off as he looked around the area for a moment before walking over to a nearby table in what looked for all the world like an outdoor café and picking up a glass of water. Ignoring the drinker's request for an explanation, the Doctor placed the glass on the floor, stared at it for a moment, and then put the glass back on the table.

"Sorry; checking all the water in this area," he said briefly, before he turned back to Amy and led her away from the table. "Where was I?"

"Why did you do that with the water?" Amy asked.

"Don't know; I think a lot; it's hard to keep track, and I'm suddenly reminded of the time Green-8 and I were looking at that palace…" the Doctor said, before he shook his head and turned around. "Now then, look at that."

Following his gaze, Amy soon saw what he was looking at; a little girl, sitting on a bench, dressed in a red cardigan over a red-and-white checked shirt, her brown hair pulled back in a pony-tail.

Following his gaze, Amy soon saw what he was looking at; a little girl, sitting on a bench, dressed in a red cardigan over a red-and-white checked shirt, her brown hair pulled back in a pony-tail. Shooting a brief glance at Amy to stay where she was, the Doctor walked over to sit down beside the girl, looking anxiously at her in an open, prompting manner that was clearly intended to encourage her to talk to him, only to be met with nothing. After tentatively reaching out towards the girl, only for her to pull away, the Doctor gave up and walked back over to sit beside Amy.

"One little girl crying," Amy said, looking thoughtfully at the Doctor as he stared at the girl with an equally contemplative expression. "So?"

"Crying silently," the Doctor pointed out. "I mean, children cry because they want attention, because they're hurt or afraid. But when they cry silently, it's because they just can't stop. Any parent knows that."

Amy decided not to ask how the Doctor came by that knowledge; he'd casually mentioned his granddaughter once, but even if he hadn't discussed his other family members in greater detail, Amy had heard enough in that moment to know that asking for more information about the family he'd lost when Gallifrey was destroyed wouldn't be a good move.

"Hundreds of parents walking past who spot her and not one of them's asking her what's wrong, which means they already know, and it's something they don't talk about," the Doctor continued to explain, as the girl looked anxiously around while bringing herself under control before getting up. "Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows, whatever they're afraid of, it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state."

"Where'd she go?" Amy asked, noticing that the girl had vanished while they were talking.

"Deck two oh seven. Apple Sesame block, dwelling 54A; you're looking for Mandy Tanner," the Doctor said, handing Amy a colourful wallet from inside his jacket. "Oh, er, this fell out of her pocket when I was trying to talk to her. Took me four goes. Ask her about those things. The smiling fellows in the booths. They're everywhere."

"But they're just… things?" Amy said, recalling some of the Doctor's first lessons to her; the seemingly innocuous details were the most important. "They're… too clean, aren't they?"

"Nice observation, Pond," the Doctor said, grinning in approval at her before his grim expression replaced the grin. "So, in a place where everything else is battered and filthy, why is nobody going within two feet of those booths?"

"So… while I'm talking with Mandy… what will you be doing?" Amy asked.

"What I always do," the Doctor replied, smiling at her reassuringly. "Back here in half an hour?"

Nodding in agreement, Amy turned around and hurried after the indicated little girl, hurrying along a couple of corners until she found a road name sign on the wall; incongruous, but maybe if she found a map…

"You're following me," the girl who was apparently Mandy Tanner said from behind Amy, a quick turn revealing that Mandy was standing between what looked like an oil drum and some kind of traffic cordoning object on the edge of another stone corridor. "Saw you watching me at the marketplace."

"You dropped this," Amy said, handing her the wallet.

"Yeah, when your friend kept bumping into me," Mandy replied, taking the wallet and walking off, leaving Amy to walk after her until the younger girl came to a halt.

"What's that?" Amy asked, noticing what looked like a striped workman's hut with yellow flashing lights and a keep out sign in front of them, under a sign saying 'Magpie Electricals'.

"There's a hole," Mandy replied. "We have to go back."

"A hole?" Amy repeated, looking at it in surprise.

If there was a hole on a spaceship, she was fairly sure blocking it up should be a priority- she might not be a scientist, but lack of oxygen in space wasn't hard to understand- so the lack of workmen around here suggested that there was something else going on…

"What are you doing?" Mandy asked, the question attracting Amy's attention back to the girl even as she moved forward to sit down and set to work at the lock in front of her with the skills taught to her by the Doctor.

"Oh, don't mind me; never could resist a keep-out sign," Amy said. "What's through there? What's so scary about a hole? Something under the road?"

"Nobody knows," Mandy said. "We're not supposed to talk about it."

"About what?" Amy asked, her attention still fixed on the padlock.

"Below," Mandy clarified.

"And because you're not supposed to, you don't?" Amy said, shaking her head at the thought as she opened the lock and stood up, smiling back at Mandy. "Well, coming?"

"No!" Mandy yelled, moving back.

"Suit yourself," Amy said, taking a moment to collect herself before she crawled into the tent, immediately seeing something in front of her that she couldn't quite make out in the dark. Picking up a nearby wind-up lantern- how far had society fallen after those solar flares?-, Amy gave it a couple of experimental turns, only to find herself facing what looked like some kind of massive scorpion's tail sticking up from the ground.

"OK…" she said after a moment. "Now _that's _weird…"

As the tail lashed out at her, only just avoiding coming in direct contact, Amy immediately retreated backwards, only to find herself being hit in the face by something once she left the tent…

* * *

Following the tracking device given to him by the mysterious Liz Ten, the Doctor wondered why he was doing this; he still knew far too little about this whole situation to feel comfortable even taking action, and here he was, taking advise from someone wearing a mask that could have concealed the face of a Faction agent to try and find his companion…

Then again, if any of his theories about this Starship UK were correct, he didn't have much choice but to follow the tracker; he didn't have any better ideas about how to find Amy right now, particularly when she clearly wasn't going to make it back to their scheduled rendezvous…

"…_do whatever you have to do_," a familiar voice said over a recording as the Doctor approached a cubicle of some sort, "_just please, please get the Doctor off this ship_!"

"Amy?" the Doctor said, opening the cubicle to see his companion watching a recording of herself on four strangely primitive-looking television sets, the Amy on the screen looking like she'd been crying while Amy herself just seemed to be confused.

"What…?" Amy said, looking between the screen and the Doctor in confusion as the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver to quickly examine the cubicle.

"Yeah, your basic memory wipe job," he said, after examining the light at the top. "Must have erased about twenty minutes."

"But why would I choose to forget something?" Amy asked.

"Because everybody does," the little girl that he'd noticed earlier said; she must have followed him or Amy here for some reason. "Everybody chooses the Forget button."

"Did you?" the Doctor asked, looking curiously at Mandy.

"I'm not eligible to vote yet; I'm twelve," Mandy explained. "Any time after you're sixteen, you're allowed to the see the film and make your choice. And then once every five years."

"And once every five years, everyone choose to forget what they've learned," the Doctor said

"Democracy in action."

"How do you not know about this?" Mandy asked, looking curiously at him.

"It's the Time Lord thing, isn't it?" Amy said, looking at him with a brief smile. "It doesn't recognise you as human?"

"You'd be surprised how much of a double-edged asset that can be," the Doctor said, smiling briefly at her as he studied the cubicle. "Once managed to get past an android that was meant to be guarding me because it didn't know what I was, but another time I had to trick a gene tester to let me into a prison to question someone about a unique form of radiation that was my only lead in a murder investigation…"

He shook his head and turned his attention back to the matter in front of them. "Anyway, that's not important; what _is_ important is finding out how this ship can do anything without any engines."

"It doesn't have engines?" Amy repeated.

"It's why I put those glasses down like that; something this big should have engines generating some very strong vibrations, but I wasn't getting so much as a twitch," the Doctor explained, turning his attention back to the screen. "As Holmes once noted, it's what isn't there as much as what is there that's important sometimes; when I was with Green-8, it was food bubbling over without producing a smell, and this time it's a lack of engine vibrations…"

"So, we've got a ship that can move when it shouldn't and something that people forget whenever they watch it; what's… what's our next move?" Amy asked, looking uncertainly at him.

"What else?" the Doctor said, grinning as he reached out towards the other button before them, this one saying 'Protest' rather than 'Forget'. "We bring down the government."

With that statement, he hit the 'Protest' button on the other side of the console, and the door slammed shut, trapping him and Amy inside as the floor opened up to reveal a long drop into a glowing red tunnel below them.

"Say wheee!" the Doctor said, grinning as he and Amy were left with nowhere to go but down as the floor retracted away from beneath their feet. He had no time to give Amy anything more comforting to think about before they were sent hurtling downwards along an increasingly-narrowing chute until they reached the bottom, landing in what immediately appeared to be some kind of rubbish dump. After confirming that nothing was injured, the Doctor immediately setting to work scanning his surroundings before Amy crashed to the ground behind him.

"High speed air cannon; lousy way to travel," the Doctor noted, even as he continued to scan their new location.

"Where are we?" Amy asked, picking herself up and staring at her clothes in frustration.

"Six hundred feet down, twenty miles laterally, puts us at the heart of the ship," the Doctor said briefly. "So, if we're inside a ship without engines, what's this then, a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave."

"It's a stupid rubbish dump, Doctor; what else is there?" Amy asked, looking at him in frustration.

"A rubbish dump that's only for organic food refuse, coming in from feeding tubes all over the ship…" the Doctor muttered, using the screwdriver to confirm his assessment of the cave's other contents before he turned his attention to the floor. "Coming into a room with a squidgy, wet, slimy floor…"

His eyes widened. "Oh."

"Oh?" Amy said, looking sharply at him. "What's 'oh'?"

"The next word is kind of a scary word," the Doctor said, looking anxiously at his companion; it was encouraging to know that he still couldn't prepare people for everything they'd encounter even after all he'd seen in this universe, but that didn't make it more comforting. "You probably want to take a moment, get yourself in a calm place, go omm…"

He waited a moment for Amy to follow his instructions, the Scottish redhead looking anxiously at him as she did so, and then he broke the silence. "It's a tongue."

"A tongue?" Amy repeated.

"A tongue," the Doctor confirmed, grinning encouragingly (When the alternative was to scream in fear, an encouraging grin was better even if it wasn't totally appropriate). "A great big tongue!"

"This is a mouth?" Amy said, looking around herself as she stepped back from him. "This whole place is a mouth? We're in a mouth?"

"Yes, yes, yes," the Doctor confirmed. "But on the plus side, roomy."

"How do we get out?" Amy asked, clearly becoming increasingly panicked as she looked around. Under other circumstances, the Doctor might have speculated more about the size of the creature that owned this mouth, but considering that this was Amy's first official trip he didn't want to freak her out by thinking about that too much.

"OK," he said, turning his attention to the end of the mouth with teeth, "it's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance is closed for business."

"We could try, though," Amy .

"No, stop, don't move," the Doctor said, reaching out anxiously as the 'floor' suddenly vibrated beneath their feet, accompanied by a grumble of some sort. "Too late; it's started."

As soon as he finished the sentence, the floor shook and both of them fell over, Amy landing on her back as the Doctor rolled over so that he was lying on his front.

"What has?" Amy asked.

"Swallow reflex," the Doctor said, turning the screwdriver towards the tongue as he prayed that this would work; this wasn't exactly something you could plan for, after all…

"What are you doing?" Amy asked.

"I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors!" the Doctor clarified.

"Hold on; doesn't that mean-?" Amy began, her eyes widening in horror as she finally managed to stand back up, only for her eyes to widen in horror at the sight of the wave hurtling towards them from the back of the throat.

"Precisely!" the Doctor said, reaching up to adjust his bow tie after slipping the screwdriver back into his pocket; their natural transcendental nature should allow him to ride through this without losing anything…

"Sorry about this; this isn't going to be big on dignity!" he called over to Amy, who was staring at the wave in horror, leaving him with nothing else to do but try and sound enthusiastic to take her mind off it. "Geronimo!"

Then the wave hit him…


	2. Very Old, Very Kind, and the Very Last

Disclaimer: I don't own what you recognise; the drill should be familiar to you by now

Feedback: I'd appreciate it; I'm trying to do something a bit different here

AN: In response to one of my earlier reviews, I'd like to assure you that I am planning to diverge more from canon as time goes on; right now I'm just establishing the Doctor and Amy's new dynamic in this new timeline by exploring how canon has been altered in more subtle ways by looking at some of the more interesting episodes, and then I'll get on to some original storylines.

The World of Paradox

As Amy sat sharply up, she was amazed to find that she and the Doctor were now just standing in what looked like a long slightly circular corridor, a door at one end while the other end stretched back into darkness, a smaller circle in the ceiling above them that was presumably where they'd fallen from.

"There's nothing broken, no sign of concussion…" the Doctor said, looking back at her with a brief, apologetic smile as she stared down at her clothes, grateful that she hadn't worn that neat leather jacket now. "And yes, you are covered in sick; sorry about that."

"Where are we?" Amy asked, standing up as she tried not to think about what was on her clothes.

"Overspill pipe, at a guess," the Doctor replied as Amy tried not to think about the smell that was hitting her nostrils; she was terrified enough at how close she'd come to being _eaten_…

"Can we get out?" she asked, looking anxiously at him.

"One door, one door switch, one condition; we forget everything we saw," the Doctor said, indicating the door with a distinctive 'Forget' button at the side, a panel hanging loose in a manner that suggested that the Doctor was trying to rewire it. "Look familiar?"

Before Amy could respond, the other end of the corridor lit up, revealing two booths with the same smiling figures sitting in them.

"That's the carrot," the Doctor said, turning around to look at the figures in the booths. "Oh, and here's the stick."

Evidently unconcerned by the things in the booths, the Doctor walked up towards the figures with a firm authority about his manner. "There's a creature living in the heart of this ship; what's it doing there?"

As Amy watched, the heads of the things from the booths turned around to reveal a sterner face that actually appeared to be frowning.

"No, that's not going to work on me, so come on," the Doctor said, naturally unimpressed by something that just stared at him. "Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works?"

The robots' faces turned around again, this time revealing a face that was twisted into a red-eyed, tooth-baring snarl (And Amy was _not _going to wonder where this third face came from…).

"Oh, stop it," the Doctor said indignantly. "I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting, and what are you fellows going to do about it? Stick out your tongues, huh?"

With that statement, the creatures emerged from the booths, prompting Amy to back up behind the Doctor as he withdrew his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the creatures, starting a scan to determine the best way to shut them off…

He didn't have time to even begin the scan before a robed, dark-skinned woman who was clearly the enigmatic Liz Ten without her mask stepped out from behind him and Amy and shot both robots, before casually spinning her gun and slipping it back into its holster.

"Look who it is," he said, smiling briefly at her as he returned to his usual casual manner. "You look a lot better without your mask."

"You must be Amy," Liz Ten said, walking over to Amy with an outstretched hand. "Liz. Liz Ten."

"Hi," Amy said, clearly stuck for what else to say.

"Lovely hair; shame about the sick," Liz said, looking Amy over briefly before going back to the door, which Mandy had just walked through. "You know Mandy, yeah? She's very brave."

"How did you find us?" the Doctor asked.

"Stuck my gizmo on you; been listening in," Liz Ten replied, tossing him what was presumably the scanner. "Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"

"You're over sixteen; you've voted," the Doctor said, putting the scanner in his pocket (He should have checked for a tracker, but he'd had other things on his mind) "Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it."

"No," Liz said. "Never forgot, never voted; not technically a British subject."

"Then who and what are you, and how do you know me?" the Doctor asked, his mind shifting to the possible options; she was unlikely to be a Faction agent, considering that she was actively helping him so far- the Faction would have tried to capture him to turn him in to the Grandfather by now, if they weren't interested in shoving him back into the creature's mouth- but there were a few options involving people just being misguided…

"You're a bit hard to miss, love," Liz replied with a slightly seductive smile. "Mysterious stranger, M.O. consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot. I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was."

"Your family?" the Doctor repeated, suddenly wondering if she was some descendant of Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart; he'd never considered himself prejudiced, but he just hadn't encountered many people of that skin colour prior to this point in history…

"They're repairing," Liz said, looking at the robots as they suddenly began to get up. "Doesn't take them long. Let's move."

As they hurried through the door, they found themselves in a more conventional corridor once more, leaving the Doctor with little choice but to let Liz Ten lead the way as she filled in the blanks.

"The Doctor," the mysterious woman said, recounting the details as though they were nothing. "Old drinking buddy of Henry Twelve. Tea and scones with Liz Two. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy."

"Liz Ten…?" the Doctor said, inspiration striking him at last.

"Liz Ten, yeah; Elizabeth the Tenth," Liz said, just as the sound of something mechanical moving reached his ears. "And down!"

As she spun around, the Doctor and Amy ducked, bullets striking the robots that had been pursuing them and sending them to the floor.

"I'm the bloody Queen, mate," Liz said, grinning at the three of them as she raised her weapons. "Basically, I rule."

It wasn't a philosophy that the Doctor totally agreed with, but in this situation, he didn't exactly have a wide variety of options available but to hurry after her, the now-identified queen leading through a side door with a grating on one side that a loud banging was coming from.

"There's a high-speed Vator through there," Liz Ten said, noticing where the Doctor's attention was currently focused. "Oh, yeah. There's these things; any ideas?"

Looking at a nearby grating, the Doctor winced at the sight of strange things that reminded him of oversized scorpion tails attacking the grating, but somehow always striking the bars rather than penetrating the gaps…

"Doctor, I saw one of these up top," Amy said. "There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through like a root."

"Exactly like a root," the Doctor said, a quick scan confirming his guess. "It's all one creature, the same one we were inside, reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."

"What, like an infestation?" Liz said, the Doctor only able to nod as he continued to study it, her tone becoming increasingly indignant at the thought. "Someone's helping it. Feeding it. Feeding my subjects to it. Come on. Got to keep moving."

As Liz and Mandy walked off, the Doctor could only stare at the tail-thing in silence for a moment before he hurried after them.

He still didn't _know _what was going on, but he had a strong suspicion that the answer wasn't going to be one he liked when he found it…

* * *

Looking around what was apparently Liz Ten's state apartment, the Doctor wasn't sure if he approved or not. On the one hand, Liz's rooms were remarkably large for a place where accommodation would naturally be at a premium- he wondered if the ship had some kind of 'birth quota' to ensure that the population didn't grow beyond a certain rate- but on the other hand, they were reasonably empty apart from the large number of glasses on the floor, a large ornate bed, and a few other bits and pieces.

"Why all the glasses?" he asked, looking curiously at the queen as she lay on the bed, her expression grim.

"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what," Liz replied solemnly.

"A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?" the Doctor asked, as he picked up the mask to study it more closely.

"Secrets are being kept from me; I don't have a choice," Liz responded, leaning forward as she glared at him. "Ten years I've been at this. My entire reign. And you've achieved more in one afternoon."

"How old were you when you came to the throne?" the Doctor asked.

"Forty," Liz replied. "Why?"

"Hold on; you're _fifty_?" Amy said, looking incredulously at the other woman.

"They slowed my body clock," Liz replied. "Keeps me looking like the stamps."

"And you always wear this in public?" the Doctor asked, sitting down on the bed beside her as he indicated the mask (It reminded him slightly of those masks worn by the clockwork robots he'd encountered when he met Reinette, but that wasn't relevant right now; they were different enough that it was just a coincidence).

"Undercover's not easy when you're me," Liz said.

"Air balanced porcelain," the Doctor noted as he turned his attention back to the mask. "Stays on by itself, because it's perfectly sculpted to your face…"

"Yeah?" Liz said with a slight smile. "So what?"

"Oh, Liz," the Doctor said, wishing that he could smile at the implications of what he was realising. "So everything…"

He was almost grateful when a group of people in robes showed up at that point; the talk about the workings of Starship UK might raise questions, but he was starting to get a clearer idea of the answers…

* * *

As she followed the Doctor and Liz into the dimly-lit room, Amy tried not to think too much about where they were going; the Tower of London might be a cool place to visit, but in this context, she just found herself remembering that it was once a prison…

"Where are we?" she said, looking anxiously over at the Doctor as a nearby pipe revealed more tail-things.

"The lowest point of Starship UK," the Doctor said grimly as he studied their new location. "The dungeon."

"Ma'am," an old man said, walking up to Liz Ten with one of those frustratingly neutral expressions people always assume when they aren't giving away anything useful.

"Hawthorne," Liz replied. "So this is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do."

"There's children down here," the Doctor said, indicating a group of children walking past them. "What's all that about?"

"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast," Hawthorne said (The Doctor hated the 'limited value' part of that statement, but at least it could be argued that it was for a valid reason here; in a confined environment like this, some people would just drain already-limited resources). "For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky."

"Yeah, look at us; torture chamber of the Tower of London," the Doctor said, glaring briefly at Hawthorne. "Lucky, lucky, lucky…"

Walking over to the middle of the room, the Doctor looked down a large hole that revealed the top of what could be a pulsating brain, with giant electrodes pointing down at it and cables leading away from the electrodes to surrounding consoles. "Except it's not a torture chamber, is it? Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle."

"What's that?" Liz said, indicating the brain.

"Well, like I say, it depends on the angle," the Doctor said grimly; he just needed confirmation now, but the picture he was getting was almost as terrible as the moment when he'd witnessed the fall of Gallifrey. "It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly…"

"Or?" Liz said.

"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator," the Doctor said. "Starship UK's go faster button."

"I don't understand," Liz said.

"Don't you?" the Doctor said promptingly, his attention turning to Hawthorne as the person apparently in charge of all this. "Try to. Go on. The spaceship that could never fly. No vibration on deck. This creature, this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not _infesting_ you, it's not _invading_, it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving."

Amy couldn't believe it; humanity had sunk _that _low? Torturing a massive creature to make it power a ship?

"Tell you what," the Doctor said, walking over to the grating and removing the top, allowing the tentacle to emerge. "Normally, it's above the range of human hearing. This is the sound none of you wanted to hear."

Raising the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor aimed it at a nearby tentacle and adjusted the frequency, creating a screaming sound that filled the room, the pain and agony it inspired reminding Amy of those long-ago days when the Doctor hadn't been there…

"Stop it!" Liz said, as the Doctor terminated the screwdriver's signal, the queen quickly turning to look at Hawthorne once again. "Who did this?"

"We act on instructions from the highest authority," Hawthorne said solemnly.

"I am the highest authority," Liz said firmly. "The creature will be released, now."

The lack of reaction from the men around them confirmed the Doctor's growing concerns about what he was dealing with; the implications were grim, but it was the only explanation he could think of…

"I said now!" Liz repeated as she glared at Hawthorne. "Is anyone listening to me?"

"Liz," the Doctor said. "Your mask."

"What about my mask?" Liz asked.

"Look at it," the Doctor clarified, tossing it back to her. "It's old. At least two hundred years old, I'd say."

"Yeah?" Liz said. "It's an antique? So?"

"An antique made by craftsmen over two hundred years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face?" the Doctor pointed out; people could deny the facts sometimes, but not when they were presented to them like this. "They slowed your body clock, all right, but you're not fifty. Nearer three hundred. And it's been a long old reign."

"No, it's ten years," Liz said, in the tone of one repeating something she knew well. "I've been on this throne ten years."

"Ten years," the Doctor said, walking over to a console with two distinctive buttons on it, these ones labelled 'Forget' and 'Abdicate', a small screen positioned above the buttons. "The same ten years over and over again, always leading you here."

"What have you done?" Liz said, looking over at Hawthorne after staring at the buttons in horror for a moment.

"Only what you have ordered," Hawthorne said. "We work for you, ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us."

With that, he activated the screen above the buttons, revealing a recorded message from Liz Ten that she clearly didn't remember making.

"_If you are watching this… if _I _am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower Of London_," the recording explained as Liz Ten sat down in front of the screen, the screen shifting to display a graph model of a large creature. "_The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travellers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind. And what we have done to it breaks my heart. The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the Star Whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the Forget button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision_."

* * *

_No_… the Doctor thought, taking in what he'd just heard in horror and barely-supressed outrage, the scale of the cosmic injustice that had been committed virtually terrifying him.

Humanity had always impressed him with their ingenuity and compassion- the last may have had its problems in groups, but individuals could still surprise him- but _this_ was a demonstration of the ingenuity and a complete violation of their compassion…

"I voted for this," Amy said, breaking his train of thought. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice," the Doctor said, looking grimly over at her. "Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that. And that was wrong. You don't ever decide what I need to know."

"I don't even remember doing it-" Amy began.

"You did it; that's what counts," the Doctor said; amnesia might excuse how you reacted to this kind of discovery, but it didn't excuse the choices you made even if you couldn't remember them.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" Amy began.

"Doesn't matter," the Doctor said, already making up his mind as to his next decision; clearly, he wasn't ready to let people back into his life yet, not when the universe was so messed up that it could produce crimes like this. "When I'm done here, you're going home."

"What?" Amy said, looking at him in shock. "Because I made one mistake? I don't even remember doing it, Doctor!"

"Yeah, I know; you're only human," the Doctor said, moving over to the console controlling the electrodes; if he was here anyway, he might as well see if he could do something to help this tortured creature continue its enforced role as a source of propulsion…

"What are you doing?" Liz asked.

"The worst thing I'll ever do," the Doctor said, as he began to adjust the dials; destroying Gallifrey had been the act of a desperate man who'd exhausted the alternatives, but this was a decision made with cool practicality that would simply maintain the status quo. "I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it."

"But… that's like killing it," Amy said.

"Right now, I have three options," the Doctor said, looking grimly up at the two women; he had to say this, but he didn't have to like it. "One, I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two, I kill everyone on this ship. Three, I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can… and then I find a new name, because I won't be the Doctor any more."

It might almost be easier that way; if he abandoned his old identity, maybe he'd find it easier to stand against the madness of the Grandfather…

"There must be something we can do, some other way-" Liz began.

"Nobody talk to me," the Doctor said; if they honestly thought he hadn't considered the alternatives already, they didn't deserve to object. "Nobody HUMAN has _anything to say to me today_!"

With that statement made, he turned his attention back to his work, trying not to think about the biological implications of what he was trying to do; he was just… taking care of an anomalous bit of programming preventing a ship reaching full power… adjusting the power settings to a more suitable level… he wasn't _lobotomising _a helpless creature to save another race…

"Wait!" Amy suddenly yelled, cutting off the Doctor's thoughts as she suddenly grabbed Liz Ten by the arm and dragged her over to the voting buttons. "Sorry about this, your Majesty, but I need a hand."

"Amy, no-!" the Doctor began, just as his companion placed Liz Ten's hand on the 'Abdicate' button, causing a sudden tremor to fill the room, along with a sound that could only be the whale roaring as whatever was keeping its brain connected to the system was released…

"What have you _done_?" the Doctor said, looking at Amy in shock; he appreciated her wanting to spare him the anguish, but killing the entire population of England in the future wasn't exactly a _better _alternative…

"Nothing at all," Amy said, looking around the room with a smile as the ship stopped shaking. "Am I right?"

"We're… increasing speed?" Hawthorne said, looking at another screen in shock.

"Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot," Amy said, looking pointedly at the old man in the robe. "Got to help."

"It's… still here?" Liz Ten said, looking uncertainly at the hole leading to the Star Whale's brain. "I don't understand…"

"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago," Amy said, her tone solemn as she looked over at the queen. "It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it; that was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry."

It came on its own…

The Doctor was ashamed that hadn't occurred to him earlier; with all of space to explore, the odds of something like the Star Whale reaching Earth at just the right time to be useful by sheer chance had to be _ridiculously _unlikely…

"What if you were really old, and really kind and alone?" Amy continued, looking at the brain as Liz and Hawthorne stood around her. "Your whole race dead. No future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind… you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

It was only when he looked up that the Doctor realised that Amy was looking at him when she said that.

The way she said it… as though it was obvious that the last of a race would turn out like that… like she just _knew _it would be the same…

He'd need to have a talk with her about that- optimism was good, but the Grandfather proved that it could have turned out the other way- but right now, he just wanted to grin and celebrate the fact that he hadn't had to lobotomise anything.

* * *

An hour later, as he stood at a window watching the ship continue its progress through the stars at an accelerated rate, he smiled as Amy walked up beside him, Liz Ten's old mask in her hands before she handed it to him.

"From her Majesty," Amy explained with a grin. "She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK."

"You could've killed everyone on the ship," the Doctor said, looking briefly over at her before turning his attention back to the city spread out before him.

"You could have killed a Star Whale," Amy replied.

"And you saved it," the Doctor said, looking back at her, wanting to know that she knew how much he appreciated that, even if he couldn't bring himself to say it. "I know, I know."

"Amazing though, don't you think?" Amy said, after they spent a moment staring silently out of the window. "The Star Whale. All that pain and misery and loneliness, and it just made it kind."

"But you couldn't have known how it would react," the Doctor said, voicing his main concern; she'd taken a gambit based on such little evidence…

"You couldn't," Amy corrected. "But I've seen it before. Very old and very kind, and the very, very last. Sound a bit familiar?"

"I'm not the only last one," the Doctor pointed out. "The Grandfather-"

"Was infected by a perception-warping virus that turned him into his worst enemy; what he became doesn't count," Amy said, shaking her head firmly as she looked at him for a moment, before she leaned over and gave him a hug that the Doctor couldn't help but return.

_This _was what he'd missed for so long (He hadn't been much of a hugger in most of his past lives, but he lived them now and he'd missed the option; that was what counted)…

"Well then," he said, stepping back to grin warmly at her before he indicated the path that would take them back to the TARDIS, "with the Star Whale safe and the UK on the move, shall we go?"

"Anywhere in particular?" Amy asked.

"A few possibilities, but let's just see what turns up," the Doctor said with a firm nod.

If nothing else, there was an exhibit he'd heard some interesting things about that he should probably check out sooner rather than later…


	3. The Home Box

Disclaimer: I don't own what you recognise; the drill should be familiar to you by now

Feedback: I'd appreciate it; I'm trying to do something a bit different here

AN: OK, we're going into the alternate 'Time of Angels'/'Flesh and Stone' here, so before anyone starts making comments about how I erased Mels from existence in the original story, I assure you all that I _do _have a plan; for now, all you need to know that temporal complications involving her Time Lord heritage have resulted in River Song still existing despite _Mels_ having been erased when the Doctor returned for Amy ahead of schedule, and more details will be revealed as the series unfolds.

AN 2: In advance, I will be sticking with some of my own thoughts on River; I apologise in advance to any die-hard fans of her out there, but there were certain aspects of her character I just didn't like even in canon, and my plan for her in this series is going to be particularly complicated…

The World of Paradox

A museum might be quieter than the kind of destination that Amy had been expecting when it came to travels with the Doctor, but it was probably a good way for them to cool down after the emotional tension of Starship UK and the discovery of the Star Whale, along with the Doctor's brief period of angry grief at the thought of what he'd have to do to preserve humanity.

Besides, the Delerium Archive was kind of interesting in its own way; it might be discussing things that Amy didn't immediately recognise, but there was still a certain appeal about seeing future history recorded in a museum… if it weren't for the fact that the Doctor was currently dismissing certain exhibits as wrong (Which she supposed was to be expected when dealing with a time-traveller who knew the truth about the death of Adolf Hitler, among other things) and was now commenting that certain things were 'his'.

"Is this how you keep score or something?" she asked, looking impatiently over at him. "Because I thought you had the TARDIS for that…"

"Oh, the old girl keeps records, but there are times when you need an external reminder," the Doctor said, shrugging dismissively before his eyes fell on a certain box. "Hold on…"

"What is it?" Amy asked, looking uncertainly at the box; it seemed utterly unremarkable, apart from the strange writing on the side that Amy suddenly realised she recognised from one of the Doctor's old lessons. "Hold on; isn't that-?"

"Gallifreyian," the Doctor confirmed, leaning on the glass covering the box as he stared at it. "Precisely, Pond, which raises the question of who'd graffiti a Home Box with it…"

"A what?" Amy asked.

"A Home Box is like a black box on a plane in your time, except it homes," the Doctor clarified, as he studied the box. "Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home with all the flight data."

"So, that's useful, but… what does it say?" Amy asked.

"There were days," the Doctor said, looking at the writing on the box as though he hadn't heard her, "many days, when these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple gods…"

"And what does it say now?" Amy asked, puzzled at the Doctor stalling.

"Hello, sweetie," the Doctor said, looking up at her in a manner that she couldn't quite recognise.

"Hello sweetie?" Amy repeated incredulously. "Who'd write _that_-?"

"Someone I don't know well but probably has a good reason for doing something like this to attract my attention," the Doctor replied, before he turned his attention back to the case and sighed. "Well, might as well deal with this…"

Amy didn't even have time to ask what he was planning to do before the Doctor had pulled out the sonic screwdriver and jammed it against the glass case, generating a high-pitched sound that briefly hurt Amy's ears before the case shattered. As alarms began to ring around them, the Doctor grabbed the box and ran back towards the TARDIS, Amy hurrying after him as guards emerged from around the corridor and began to chase them before they dived through the doors into the safety of the ship. Even as Amy closed and locked the TARDIS doors behind them, the Doctor was already setting the TARDIS in motion while connecting the Home Box up to the console's monitor screen, tapping buttons on another part of the console that reminded Amy of a typewriter.

"Why did we just do that?" Amy asked.

"Because someone on a spaceship twelve thousand years ago is trying to attract my attention," the Doctor replied, as he tightened a cable that he'd somehow connected to the side of the box. "Let's see if we can get the security playback working …"

As Amy watched the screen, it shifted to show a black-and-white image of a woman with curly fair hair in an elegant black dress, walking out of a vault and lowering her sunglasses to smile at the camera. Looking slightly surprised at the sight, the Doctor adjusted something on the side of the box, and the screen shifted to show the same woman standing in front of some kind of door, smiling at an older man dressed in a tuxedo standing in front of two men armed with large guns, the guns both aimed at the woman.

"_The party's over, Doctor Song_," the man in the tuxedo said. "_Yet you're still on board_."

"_Sorry, Alistair_," the woman replied; Amy assumed that she was the aforementioned Doctor Song, but she couldn't be certain. "_I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach its destination_."

"_Wait 'til she runs_," the man who was apparently Alistair said, in a manner that suggested he wasn't going to pay any attention to what Doctor Song had just said (Why was it some people always assumed they knew best when faced with that kind of warning?). "_Don't make it look like an execution_."

"_Triple seven five slash three four nine by ten zero twelve slash acorn_," Doctor Song said, glancing at something on her wrist before looking up at the camera. "_Oh, and I could do with an air corridor_."

"What was that?" Amy asked, looking at the Doctor in confusion as he began to work away at another console. "What did she say?"

"Coordinates," the Doctor replied, Amy's attention shifting from the monitor to the TARDIS door as the Doctor moved around so that one hand was hovering over the door control, even as he set what Amy could only assume were the coordinates Doctor Song had just given him with his other hand. As the ship shook while in flight, the Doctor ran around the console for a moment, moving so quickly that Amy could barely keep up with what he was doing- she'd received a few pointers in the key details of TARDIS operation, but this was too fast for her to follow- before he hit the door control and ran for the doors, which opened to receive the very woman in black they'd been watching on the screen moments ago, the woman landing practically on top of the Doctor as they were both sent sprawling to the floor.

"Doctor?" Amy asked, hurrying over to look anxiously at her friend.

"River?" the Doctor said, looking at the woman with a slightly stunned expression, as though he couldn't believe that she was there, only for her to quickly get to her feet and look at the spaceship that was now hurtling away from the TARDIS.

"Follow that ship," the woman said firmly.

"Right," the Doctor said, hurrying over to the console as he quickly set the ship in motion, the mysterious River joining him at the console while Amy held on to the railings.

"They're going into warp drive!" River yelled as she stared at the monitor. "We're losing them; stay close!"

"I'm trying!" the Doctor yelled, adjusting some levers near his current console.

"Use the stabilisers," River called.

"There aren't any stabilisers!" the Doctor replied, still concentrating on the console before him.

"The blue switches," River clarified.

"Hey, the blue ones don't do anything!" Amy called out; the Doctor had dismissed them as unimportant when he'd given her some brief lessons in piloting the TARDIS.

"Of course they do," River said, reaching over to adjust the switches with a slight smile at Amy as the TARDIS's flight suddenly became far less disruptive. "They're the blue _stabilisers_; see?"

"Well… it's just boring now, isn't it?" the Doctor said, shaking a lever in frustration as Amy glanced over at the Time Lord in surprise. "They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers."

"Uh… how can she fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked, leaning over to whisper to the Doctor.

"You call _that_ flying the TARDIS?" the Doctor said dismissively.

"OK," River said, ignoring their conversation as she moved around the console, "I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination, and… parked us right along side."

"Parked us?" the Doctor repeated, looking scornfully at River. "We haven't landed."

"Of course we've landed," River said smugly, reaching up to move the monitor into a position where the Doctor could see it. "I just landed her."

"You did?" Amy said, looking at River in confusion. "But… it didn't make the… the wheezing noise…"

"It's not supposed to make that noise," River said, smiling at Amy as she indicated the Doctor. "_He _leaves the brakes on."

"It's… well, it's a brilliant noise; I _love _that noise," the Doctor said, shooting a frustrated glare at River before turning his attention back to the nearby console screen. "Anyway, we're on Alfava Metraxis, seventh planet of the Dundra System, oxygen rich atmosphere, all toxins in the soft band, eleven-hour day, and chance of rain later…"

"He thinks he's so hot when he does that," River said, looking at Amy with a smile.

"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked.

"You call _that _flying the TARDIS?" the Doctor said, shaking his head in frustration. "That's _Romana _flying the TARDIS; sticking to the book without improvisation…"

"I learned from the best," River said, smiling over at Amy, ignoring the Doctor's comment before she glanced over at him. "It's a shame you were busy that day… so, why did they land here?"

"They didn't land," the Doctor said, glaring briefly at her, evidently still sore at the comment about his TARDIS-piloting skills. "They crashed."

River stared silently at him for a moment, but then walked out of the TARDIS door, leaving Amy to look critically at him.

"Explain," she said firmly. "Who is that, and how did she do that… museum thing?"

"It's a long story and I don't know most of it…" the Doctor began, before he sighed in frustration. "Well, we'd better get on with it."

"On with it?" Amy repeated.

"I'm not exactly comfortable with this whole situation- that woman represents a puzzle I'd prefer to avoid until I absolutely have to- but if I don't get involved in this now, we run the risk of creating a paradox that could have serious consequences for my past, and I've got enough of those to deal with already with… everything else," the Doctor said, turning his attention to the door with a solemn sigh. "Well, let's get on with it."

As they walked out of the TARDIS, the Doctor and Amy found themselves looking at the same ship they'd seen flying away from them earlier, now a burning wreck sticking out of a building that seemed to have been carved into the rock, the ship's extended pylons twisted and smoke coming from where it had struck the building, even if the worst of the fires had apparently gone out already.

"What caused it to crash?" Amy asked.

"Not me," the blonde woman said,

"Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it," the Doctor confirmed. "According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase shift. No survivors."

"A phase shift would have to be sabotage," River said. "I did warn them."

"About what?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, at least the building was empty," River said, ignoring the Doctor's query as she removed some kind of hand-held computer from her bag. "Aplan temple; unoccupied for centuries."

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Amy asked, after a moment's silence had passed, River looking at her equipment and the Doctor and Amy just standing behind her.

"Amy Pond," the Doctor said, indicating the woman standing before them, "Professor River Song."

"I'm going to be a professor some day, am I?" River said, looking back at him with a smile. "Spoilers."

"Yeah, but who is she and how did she do that?" Amy asked, when the Doctor's slightly indignant expression made it clear that he wasn't going to respond to that query on his own. "She just left you a note in a museum…"

"Two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum," River said, evidently having been listening to the conversation (Amy didn't like that; wasn't she entitled to some privacy when talking to her friend?). "The Home Box of a category four starliner, and, sooner or later, him. It's how he keeps score."

"_One_ of the ways he keeps score," Amy corrected.

"You know," the Doctor said, looking firmly at River, "I'm not a taxi service you can call for whenever you're in a difficult position, and what are we looking for on a ship that crashed like that anyway?"

"There's one survivor," River said, looking back at him. "There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die."

Looking back at him for a moment, River smiled and then turned her attention back to the device in her hands as it emitted a strange beep.

"You lot in orbit yet?" she said, holding it to her ear as she walked off to a different area of the current 'beach'. "Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal. Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."

Rolling his eyes in frustration, the Doctor raised the sonic and aimed it at River's communicator as she held it above her head, the archaeologist subsequently lowering the device back to her side as she pulled out a blue book with a TARDIS-like cover.

"We have a moment; where are we up to?" she asked with a smile. "Have we done the Bone Meadows?"

"What's the book?" Amy asked.

"Stay away from it," the Doctor said firmly.

"What is it, though?" Amy asked.

"Her diary," the Doctor clarified.

"_Our_ diary," River replied with a smile.

"Her past, my future," the Doctor said. "We keep meeting in the wrong order."

"Oh," Amy said, immediately realising why the Doctor was so concerned about this meeting; with Faction Paradox in power, meeting people out-of-sequence could be _very _dangerous if the wrong thing came up in conversation…

The Doctor was saved from having to elaborate further as four small tornadoes suddenly appeared in the dust nearby, the tornados swiftly turning into four soldiers, three of whom took in their surroundings while the fourth, oldest soldier walked over to River.

"You promised me an army, Doctor Song," the man said, looking grimly at her.

"No, I promised you the equivalent of an army," River said, indicating the Time Lord with a smile. "This is the Doctor."

"Father Octavian, sir; Bishop, second-class," the older man said, turning to address the Doctor, initial doubts apparently quelled. "Twenty clerics at my command; the troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?"

"Doctor," River said, turning to look at the Time Lord with a smile as he looked curiously back at her, "what do you know of the Weeping Angels?"

Amy had only heard that name a couple of times- the Doctor had mentioned an incident that had resulted in him being trapped in 1969 for a few months until he could make arrangements to have the TARDIS sent back to his current location- but she'd heard enough to know that anything involving the Angels would be _very _difficult to deal with…


End file.
